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SOUR JAZZ
SOUR JAZZ
SOUR JAZZ |
Mr. Popular - Vocals | Mr. Ratboy - Guitar KNAC.com Sour Jazz are a four piece outfit straight outta New Yawk City that wear their Iggy Pop influence on their sleeves and pull no punches when it comes to rockin'. From the title of their albums (the last one was No Values, this one is Lost For Life, both Iggy album title parodies for those of you that don’t know) to song titles like "No Fun(House)" to the singer's dead-on Iggy sounding voice, these guysare basically making the kind of records Iggy made before the '80s and that fans have been begging him to make ever since "and that's cool with me 'cause I love those early Iggy/Stooges albums! Lead by the guitar mastery of former Motorcycle Boy and Marky Ramone axesmith Mr. Ratboy, Sour Jazz revel in sleazy, gutter rock n’ roll as exemplified by the opening track, “Mr. Popular.” Built around a tasty twin guitar riff and a New Values push and pull groove, “Mr. Popular” is Iggy at his prime, complete with taunting baritone vocals and ass-shakin’ beat courtesy of bassist Mark Rubinstein and drummer Splat Fitzgerald. Vocalist Lou Paris sounds like the Frankenstein son of Iggy, Luxx Interior of The Cramps and Fred Schneider of the B52s and while his sound may not be original it sure does sound cool. On “I’ve Got It All” and “Hold On Me” the band plunges into Doors territory, adding some organ drenched velvet blues to the proceedings and easing back a notch to let Paris really sell the song, and he does with ease and charisma. “Easy As PI” is a rocket-fueled bar-burner complete with some ‘80s synth and raucous riffing from the Rat. “I Like The City” is pure NYC rock, a tribute to the Big Apple set to a bouncy beat ala Iggy’s Kill City or Lust For Life, while “Hot Rod Spaceman” is a turbo-charged instrumental built around a hard as nails, cheap as dirt riff. “Dig It Up” fins the band in lounge funk mode, bopping around another Doors-y groove ala “Touch Me,” while “Messin’ With The Kid” is a cover of the Saints ballad that sounds just like “Sway” by the Stones. The album closes with a 10-minute noise jam just like the first two Stooges albums. Hey, at least they were paying attention in rock school, right? There ain’t nothin’ new here, folks, but if ya like Iggy, love the Stooges or just dig some hip yet retro proto-punk rawk, Sour Jazz is definitely the band for you. And for those of you that keep whining about Iggy mellowing out, Wayne Kramer (MC5) getting too artsy fartsy or David Johansen (NY Dolls) morphing into Buster Poindexter, this should quiet ya down for a little while. By Frank Meyer, Editor In Chief metrotimes Detroit Sour Jazz - Dressed To The Left New York City’s best band ain’t the fortunate sons the Strokes no matter what the well-paid-off paycheck media keep insisting. Sour Jazz makes real rock ‘n’ roll for grown-ups not prefab youth-culture suckers. Led by Cleveland native Lou Paris who takes a drop-dead smart-ass Iggy Pop approach to clever, deadpan lyrics and co-starring world famous Swiss guitar virtuoso, Gilbert Avondet. This disc is a consolation prize from the rawk gods to anyone who tried to sit through the world’s forgotten Juggalo’s distinctly unlistenable Beat ’Em Up last year. dimitri monroe kindamuzik Holland Gilbert "Mr. Ratboy" Avondet had had it with the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. You know, dragging around heavy amplifiers, being poor, getting stuck in a tiny van with people that get on your nerves to play for 50 people and just as many dollars, that kind of stuff. So he drafted some similary bitter & lazy rock veterans and formed Sour Jazz to make music just for fun. 'Dressed To The Left' is a compilation of their two vinyl only releases 'No Values' (1999) and 'Lost For Life' (2001) with 2 new songs and a video added. As can be expected from a band with such a mentality and so much experience, Sour Jazz has a rather laidback and suave sound, comparable to that of fellow New Yorkers Speedball Baby, but without the Beefheartian insanity. Mr. Ratboy combines raw rock 'n' roll and jazzy sophistication in his guitar playing, Lou "Mr. Popular" Paris' croons sarcastic lyrics in genuine Iggy Pop style, the rhythm section actually does swing at times and keyboards and brass add depth. It's still undeniably punk rock though and probably even more so than all those fucked up mad as hell punk rock kids. Sour Jazz is simply too jaded to get mad about anything. Or as Lou "Mr. Popular" Paris sings in 'Mountain High': "Feeling waves of pressure of a youth I've thrown away / Knowing things are all right, because I'm happier today." Still this is not only Sour Jazz's strength, but also its weakness. In the end naive idealism is still more infectious than "been there, done that" cynism. But for something recorded by a bunch of bitter veterans 'Dressed To The Left' is one hell of an album. Martijn ter Haar Bizarre Magazine U.K. In a music world of retro, rehash, pastiche, irony and post-everything, lo-slung New Yawk guitar band SOUR JAZZ are the real deal. You want SOUR JAZZ, or The Strokes? The real deal or Disneyland? Guys from the Lower East Side or a bunch of rich kids who visit the area for photo sessions? Cheap guitars and snotty vocals or a million-dollar ad campaign? This is a band that's unashamed to get the complete lyrics to a song out of fortune cookies from the Sunny Chinese Takeaway on Third Avenue. This is a band who shot their first video in the toilet at CBGBs, with the drummer throwing up for real due to the stench only a couple of hours into the day's filming. This is a band with a potential hit single called "I Like The City", if only we still lived at a time when anyone other than neutered, pre-packaged stage-school kids could get into the charts, or if anyone other than brain-dead nine year olds still bought singles any more. This is the band Iggy should have playing behind him. This is a band the corporate fuckwits at major labels have never even heard of. All this, some killer tunes, and even a sense of humour. Like the man said: "shimmy up my pole, baby, shake my castanets...". Sour Jazz's latest, Dressed To The Left, is out now on Munster Records. Max Decharne Ruta 66 Spain If the title of the first album, "NO VALUES", previously talked about in these pages, showcased a good amount of humor and an excellent rock record, "LOST FOR LIFE" is even more sarcastic towards Iggy Pop but remains every bit as classy as its predecessor. Now at the age of having kids & thinning hair, conscious that Rock & Roll will lead them nowhere, the member of SOUR JAZZ take all this very philosophically and act as peripheral veterans of a recent scene. Founded around Mr Ratboy, Swiss guitarist with an impressive career (Jeff Dahl, Pillbox, Bebe Buell, Motorcycle Boy, Marky Ramone, Kevin K), the New York quartet achieves in their second album a sophisticated sound that , somewhere between the crooning Iguana and a bluesy Beasts of Bourbon, find the perfect ambiguous point of irony. Lou Paris' voice is identical to Iggo's, the only difference being that he's a better singer than Osterberg. Yes, the songs draw about 60% of their inspiration from "New values" but it has been ages since an Iggy Pop album has contained such good material on it. Urban & nocturnal, "LOST FOR LIFE" displays elegant arrangements, bringing in elements too often unused ( trombones, synthesizer ) and achieving tasteful moments, like the monumental SAINTS cover or a psychedelic approximation of the STOOGES via SPACEMEN 3. Apart from this last cut, all the songs on "LOST FOR LIFE" plus six tracks from "NO VALUES" and a video clip are included on "DRESSED TO THE LEFT", perfect introduction to a group that offers more than it promises. Ruta 66 ABUS DANGEREUX magazineFrance Mr Ratboy might approach ROCK with a jaded and amused "been there/done that" attitude but he nevertheless injects into SOUR JAZZ a passion that the years haven't eroded at all, even if the band's strategy is based on the sheer pleasure of plugging in and , occasionally, letting the tape recorder run. What we get is a generous 2nd album, restless & full of thrills with the addition of horns or keyboards that break the routine of basic Rock'n'Roll & open beautiful perspectives. If everybody plays his part perfectly, Lou Paris shines even more, offering the snottiest vocals this side of Iggy Pop. In this " moody brat" register, "I got it all" is a great number. We will also applaud the inspired cover of the Saints' "Messin' with the kid", "No fun(house)", a last wink to the Stooges and, as a bonus, the superb gatefold sleeve, destined to put all the twisted technocrats that invented the CD to shame ! We were not ready for such an inspired SOUR JAZZ: What a good surprise this was ! Abus dangereux DIG IT magazine France Lost For Life, the 2nd SOUR JAZZ album, reached us only minutes before our deadline. It's a beautiful piece of still smoking thick blue vinyl wrapped in a magnificent gatefold sleeve on the parisian label Ghostrider. Our expectation were very high (see last issue), this is a dive into exctasy. We can multiply the different approach angles : The funny references to Iggy Pop & the Stooges, their entirely unique sound, the achievements of guitar-hero Mr Ratboy, the ironic & pissed off style of singer Lou Paris, the Glam & the Wah-wah, the groove & the horns, The overall class , the Flaming Stars-like piano (Max Decharne wrote the liner notes), the Saints cover, the nod to the Green on Red/Long Ryders/Dream Syndicate family, a command of the recording studio as sharp as their boots etc.... One thing is sure, SOUR JAZZ is one of these (rare) groups that can revisit Rock'n'Roll history and stamp its unique & comtemporary sound on it. It must be a question of distance and class. Dig IT HIT LIST magazine The disreputable and debonair thrill-seekers of Sour Jazz have just released Lost For Life, another high-water-mark album that's got both the suave atmospherics of shadowy film noir and the catchiness of late-seventies punk/new wave, á la The Saints or Peter Perret. It features a desperately swank catchy trashy bluesy jazzy spacey beat punk-n-roll cocktail called No Fun(house) that I highly recommend. This might be the best thing Ratboy's ever done, I shit you not. I assure you, there's really no reason to settle for any more Hellacopters rip-off bands now that Rat, Splat, Lou and Cow are back in action...you honestly ought to get this as soon as you can. Sour Jazz are total rock-n-roll kings. They're really in a class all their own right now, relentlessly mining that swingin' Iggy/New Values velvet goldmine while mixing in piano and horns from 70's blaxploitation flicks and blackened voodoo guitar stylings so mean and shitty that it's hard not to mistake them for Kim Salmon & The Surrealists; hip, funny lyrics and stylish, soulful influences from every great musical genre, ultimately creating some entirely fresh sounding, original, hook-laden new music. Sour Jazz serve up only Top-shelf Quality Rock-n-Roll. Dimitri Monroe Rolling Stone Germany New York City Rock, between punk and sleaze, sharp-edged riffs and jazz-styles, ferocious cellar-rumblings and psychedelic escapades. The almost 10-minute-long “No Fun(house)" begins with a Floydesque mood mosaic, changes into standard Stooges mode, both raw and not entirely serious, before finally bringing in a brass section and discharging itself in strangely dissonant sound cascades. The cover version of the Saints' classic “Messin' With The Kid" has also got class. Next to Sour Jazz, The Strokes seem like one trick ponies. This is their second LP, and, like the debut is released on vinyl only. It weighs 220 grams and the contents are equally heavy and substantial. RATING: Four stars (out of five) Wolfgang Doebeling I-94 BAR "No Values" is the name of the album and it's one of the best things to have graced the Bar for months.Swinging, bluesy rock, laced with guitar, wit and colourings of horns and synth, it's a heady brew that pokes you in the eye and grabs you by your most tender appendages (giving 'em a squeeze for luck.) Think Iggy, circa "New Values" (hence the title - geddit?) meting the Beasts of Bourbon, in their Chicago blues phase (around "Black Milk"), in a dark bar and you'll get the idea. Sour Jazz are a four-piece from New York City: Lou Paris (vocals), Swiss-born Mr Ratboy (guitar), Mark Rubenstein (bass) and Splat "Action" Fitzgerald (drums.) They're well-travelled. Mr Ratboy has toured with Jeff Dahl and graced albums by the wonderful Kevin K and Freddie Lynxx. The riddim boys play with Mr K from time to time as well. And Lou does the best line in Ig-like vocals I've heard in many a moon. "I Live on a Street Called Rock and Roll" is the opener and a fine start to proceedings it is, with its cocky rhythms, swaggering brass and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. (The title was written before the song, after the band members challenged each other to come up with the dumbest moniker imaginable!) "I Gotta Change" inhabits similiar territory with million-mile-an-hour verbage and guitar/synth interplay straight off "New Values". "Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town)" takes us back to the down home section of the Beasts' turf, while "That's Cool" is another cut that should have made "New Values". Likewise, 'Steamroller". On the subject of Ig-isms - their forthcoming album is called "Lost for Life - there's more than the odd abusive entry in the Jazz web site guestbook for citing Mr Pop. So in case you were wondering, this is no slavish Ig concept band - more a pisstake. If only the Mr Pop of today rocked like this. If only Mr Pop pieced together songs like "Fortune Cookie" whose lyrics are taken, Burroughs-like, from fortune cookies! Sour Jazz don't take themselves very seriously which only makes this album all the more indispensable. Wit, guitars and a beat that bumps and swings, all in one package. What are you waiting for? E-mail their label and send your hard-earned, pronto! the barman BLACK VELVET Magazine Class. This oozes the stuff all over the place. It may not be the sort of commercialism to find its way into the charts, but this is a bunch of musicians clearly happy with what they’re producing. It is very well put together and sounds great cranked up, with all the elements of the band showing through. Unsurprisingly, there are moments of jazz in amongst the rock ’n roll, especially the wandering bass-lines as on "Mountain High" and maybe this is the key to the success, adding an air of professionalism to the proceedings. If you’re after some good, straight-ahead rock with a jazz twist, give SOUR JAZZ a go and, like me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. RATING: Four stars (out of five) Dave Buckingham Carbon14 While this quartet of NYC underground music veterans (most notably Mr. Ratboy) may not be playing jazz, their brand of rock is definitely a little sour. This is not a sugar-coated pop-fest nor is it really like anything any of the participants have been associated with before. Whatever it is, its pretty strange. With an odd balance of guitars, a synth (?!) and the occasional dose of horns, Sour Jazz is like a modern missing link between a number of seemingly unrelated styles and mutations of punk from the past 20 or so years. There’s a loose R&B vibe throughout but even that groove is put through a Gibson Bros./ 68 Comeback filter, which kicks up that swampy, dirty, nasty grind even more. Of course, this fine display of American music is on a French label, making it doubly hard to find on these shores, but possibly all the more worth seeking out because you’re unlikely to find anything like it anytime soon. HIT LIST Magazine Stardust- flecked NYC guitarslinger Mister Ratboy has found himself another burntout, badass crooner by the name of Lou Paris, and together they have concocted the perfect hybrid between Iggy's "Party" and "New Values" mid-70's albums. Pure genius, if Iggy's your thing. DJM
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